Liverpool experienced major travel disruption on Tuesday night as their flight to Frankfurt was halted due to technical difficulties with the plane, leaving them delayed for four hours.
The flight was scheduled to take off at around 4pm English time but did not take off until around 7.15pm, meaning Liverpool were forced to cancel Arne Slot and midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai’s press conference.
Doing so put them at risk of a UEFA fine by breaching Article 48 of regulations, which stipulates clubs must arrive on site the evening before a match and fill their media obligations 24 hours before kick-off.
But it is understood UEFA will let Liverpool off as cancelling the media duties was beyond their control.
The squad eventually took off at 7.50pm having been lingering in the compact departure lounge of the XLR private jet terminal at John Lennon Airport for four hours, with their afternoon training session also delayed on a day of logistical hitches.
It was not ideal preparation for a must-win match against Eintracht Frankfurt at the Deutsche Bank Park, with the Reds not losing five games in a row since 1953.
Liverpool’s preparations for their flight to Frankfurt was heavily disrupted by plane issues
Virgil van Dijk (left) and Mohamed Salah were among the squad who had to wait four hours
And to make matters worse, there was no Ryan Gravenberch on the flight as the key midfielder is suffering with an ankle injury.
Daily Mail Sport understands it is not a serious blow and the Dutchman is hoping to be fit for Saturday’s trip to Brentford. He is still in pain but it is said to be just a twisted ankle.
‘It will not impact the build-up to the game,’ Arne Slot told LFCTV. ‘That cannot be an excuse for the game.’
German side Frankfurt have not kept a clean sheet this season and have an interesting record in the Champions League so far – winning one game 5-1 and losing the other by the same score.
